With Bryce Aiken sidelined, Kadary Richmond is making steady progress as Seton Halls point guard – NJ.com

Kadary Richmond is being asked to play a much bigger role for Seton Hall than he or coach Kevin Willard ever expected coming into the season.

With Bryce Aiken sidelined for the past five games while in concussion protocol, the Syracuse transfer has made steady progress while playing more minutes than anyone had planned.

I think youre starting to see the evolution of a really, really good player, Willard said after Seton Halls 74-55 rout of Creighton Friday night at Prudential Center.

Its hard going from playing 24 minutes a game sharing time with a guy to all of sudden playing 38 minutes in a game and playing three games in five days. I think hes handled the responsibility phenomenally, hes playing with a lot of confidence and hes just starting to evolve into that really, really good point guard.

In the five games Aiken has missed, the 6-foot-6 Richmond is averaging 10.0 points, 6.0 assists, 4.0 rebounds and 4.4 turnovers while playing an average of 35 minutes per game. The Pirates (14-7, 5-6) are 3-2 in those contests and have won two straight entering Wednesdays tilt with No. 21 Xavier (16-6, 6-5) at Prudential Center.

A year ago, Richmond was playing just 21 minutes a game at Syracuse while averaging 6.3 points, 3.1 assists and 2.6 rebounds. This year hes averaging 8.7 points, 4.0 assists and 3.8 rebounds in 26 minutes per game. His breakout game came in a 90-87 overtime win against UConn on Jan. 8, when he poured in 27 points on 10-of-13 shooting in 27 minutes. Aiken scored 22 points in that game.

After putting up 12 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals in Tuesdays win at Georgetown, Richmond followed with 14 points, seven assists, three rebounds, a steal and a block against Creighton while posting a plus-23 on the box score.

Just balancing everything out, creating for myself, creating for other guys on the court and just trying to lead more, offensively and defensively, Richmond said.

When Seton Hall was manhandled at Walsh Gym by St. Johns on Jan. 25, Richmond managed just three points on 0-for-8 shooting with three rebounds, four assists and four turnovers. Willard said Richmond was tired after handling point guard duties for the second time in three days without much support.

Now he seems to be growing accustomed to playing more minutes while the games have been more spread out. His play will be critical in the next week as the Pirates will face three Top 25 teams in an eight-day span. After hosting Xavier, the Pirates travel to No. 12 Villanova on Saturday before visiting No. 17 UConn on Feb. 16.

I think its getting better as time goes, game in and game out, Richmond said.

There is no timetable on a return for Aiken -- who is averaging 14.5 points, 2.7 assists and 2.1 rebounds and brings a much-needed change of pace to Seton Halls offense. So in the meantime, Richmond will have to keep on shouldering the point guard duties.

Its just the same thing going into every game, Richmond said, doing what I can to win, just the same routine and just trying to pull out a win every night.

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Adam Zagoria is a freelance reporter who covers Seton Hall and NJ college basketball for NJ Advance Media.

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With Bryce Aiken sidelined, Kadary Richmond is making steady progress as Seton Halls point guard - NJ.com